September 9, 2012

Says Jennifer Rubin, who speculates about the reason for the arrogance she perceives. Maybe the Obama staffers are simply "comforting" themselves so they can continue the difficult slog to the end.

But the public chest-beating is also the telltale sign of a candidate and his flacks who think that normal rules don’t apply to them, that Obama is so special they can defy gravity. The distortion is magnified greatly by the Beltway media whom the Obama team courts incessantly. The Romney senior adviser calls it a “202 area code”campaign, referring to the phone prefix for Washington, D.C. For whatever reason (a desire for praise, the delusion that media hold sway), the Obama team seeks refuge in easily spun media reports that will dutifully regurgitate its theory of the race. (And when not spun by the Obama team, editors eager for “clicks” online dream up storylines and send their reporters to piece together bits and pieces to fit the preordained narrative, regardless of whether it is an accurate representation of the race.) Of course, the Beltway media fixation ignores the hard truth that liberal Beltway press and pundits have never been less in touch and less influential. The quintessential example is Clint Eastwood.

Every-one, at the breakfast at the IHOP, we were joined by some heavy-weights from Chicago HQ, NYT, NPR, PBS, MSNBC, and, of course, super-K-street consultants.

The word is that since we are getting the bounce (our secret, super-polls show that we are at 51%, with a 7% lead over Romney and the GOP), we are automatically winning this election.

SO, what do we do?- Plan for the 2nd term. 100 days (which were in the vault) are now back in the circulation.- Savage Romney in the Debates. Biden is playing darts with Ryan image. He will bury Ryan.- Reward those in Congress who support us, such as Harry Reid. Nancy Pelosi's mute button fiasco means that she is in the dog-house. Boehner is also in the dog-house. So, is Cantor. Well, every-one in the GOP.- The 2nd term will be our most progressive term of any president. - Our goal: Getting on to the Mt. Rushmore, at least in metaphorically.

NB: Tonite we meet at the Four Seasons bar in G-Town. Password is: Destroy Romney.

The Romney senior adviser calls it a “202 area code”campaign, referring to the phone prefix for Washington, D.C.

That is a brilliant phrase. I had the opportunity to travel to DC a few times last year and observed exactly that. Wildly enthused liberals and even some complacent conservatives. It sure looked like a money-driven gravy train bubble to me. It was like the Southern California property bubble circa 2001 to 2005. But like all bubbles, it will pop.

No doubt the Obama team is arrogant - groups usually take on the characteristics of their leader - but his arrogance had led to critical errors, and will again.

Regardless, Rubin overstates this; the most critical thing working to Romney's advantage is Obama's manifest failures.

No doubt 85-90% of the morons who voted for him last time will do so again (is any cohort in America as predictably stupid as those who voted for Obama?); the race comes down to the 10-15% who realize that adding $1 trillion annually to the debt, 8+% unemployment, 40% erosion in family wealth simply isn't sustainable, but will not, cannot change under the incumbent.

The fact that no poll shows him exceeding 50% shows him in very deep trouble.

Almost no incumbent has ever won reelection consistently polling less than 50%. Undecideds almost always break for the challenger. Advantage: Romney.

The campaign doesn’t expect this race to be like 1980 when the playing field tipped heavily at the end after the debates. This is a neck-and-neck race as far as the Romney team is concerned. The campaign believes that each side has a floor of about 47 percent; that’s where the campaign will be played for the rest of the race.

So Romney and Obama are fighting over the remaining 6% of voters. I don't remember an election this nailed down so soon. I knew we were polarized; I didn't realize how much.

The column Andy R. links is misleadingly, I would say fraudulently, headlined.

Yes, Romney promises to repeal Obamacare. Yes, Romney intends to pass other legislation that will perform some of the functions of Obamacare. No, that doesn't mean that Romney isn't going to repeal all of Obamacare.

Yes, Andy R. is one of our liberal trolls who throws out taunts and links that don't make sense.

The Republican presidential nominee says he'll replace the law with his own plan.

It would be really nice if the Republican presidential nominee would provide some details of what his plan would involve. We know his vice-presidential candidate's plan involves simply slashing hundreds of billions of dollars from medical care and somehow hoping that the "market" will magically fix things.

Even the most die-hard opponent of ObamaTax notes there are elements popular with the public at large.

And it is completely dishonest for the Republicans to imply they will keep the parts that people like and get rid of the parts people don't, especially since the parts people don't like are the parts that make the good parts feasible.

Several editorialists recently (Stanly Kurtz @NRO, Powerline, etc, ) have made the point that conservatives have permanently lost up to 1/3 of the nation due to the overwhelming control of the MSM, academia/k-12 and Hollywood by the left and that mere recitation of facts--as dismal as they may be--cannot penetrate the left's screen/filter, i.e., the avg Joe who only pays attention to the evening news but who will vote will NEVER get a true picture. Add to ths the demographic shifts underway and some have opined that even if Romney wins, his Presidency may be the last Republican Presidency for a VERY long time--if ever. Perhaps THE SINGLE BEST art. I've ever read which encapsulates this all-encompassing cultural brainwashing phenomenon is a 20 Sept 2008 piece in The American Thinker by William Staneski entitled:"The Drumbeat." All should go read it (or re-read, as the case may be.)

Such reading does not make for a sanguine outlook. I'm quite frankly surprised that ANY Republicans EVER get elected such are the propaganda/brainwashing hurdles which they must vault.(But then I'm the guy that opined upon the election of Jimmy Carter that the era of two-term Presidents was forever over such were the multiple long-term difficulties facing the nation., lol)

And it is completely dishonest for the Republicans to imply they will keep the parts that people like and get rid of the parts people don't, especially since the parts people don't like are the parts that make the good parts feasible.

Not necessarily. For instance, there is virtually no enforcement for the mandate, so that doesn't make the rest feasible.

Also, you could do things with vouchers and subsidies to help people who have to pay a lot for preexisting conditions. But that clause shouldn't be so easy as to make it so people wait until they know they are very ill to buy "insurance" that is mandated to cost the same as everyone else's.

The mandates on the type of insurance people must buy should be thrown out the door, along with the Secretary of HHS's ability to require things that please her political cronies.

Insurance could also be separated from employment, with the tax credit going to individuals instead of businesses, so insurance is more portable and people don't have to switch when they get jobs. Like term life insurance.

Several editorialists recently (Stanly Kurtz @NRO, Powerline, etc, ) have made the point that conservatives have permanently lost up to 1/3 of the nation due to the overwhelming control of the MSM, academia/k-12 and Hollywood by the left and that mere recitation of facts--as dismal as they may be--cannot penetrate the left's screen/filter

The point they miss is that the centralized media, news and entertainment, is hemorrhaging viewership and readership daily.

It's all going to the Internet, and that's why the race is so "tight".

Dan Henninger said on the Journal Editorial Report last night that he though that if Obama wins this election, he will be pretty much done with dealing with Congress and just go to ruling by Executive Orders and Departmental regulations.

What you say is undoubtedly true, but I would remind you of the point that the historian and philosopher of Science, Thomas Kuhn made in his ground-breaking 1962 work The structure of Scientific Revolutions wherein he pointed out that established Paradigms (and the left has solidly established the right as naught but morally suspect blue meanies who want to take away all your toys and goodies) can never be defeated by mere facts, but ONLY by better and more appealing competing Paradigms. The right has yet to construct a viably coherent, easily explained one, let alone establish it in the public mind as a superior alternative. As the late Political Scientist V.O Key made the point, it's "the pictures in their (the public's) heads" that counts-- and the left is solidly in control of the picture-making business..

Freder Frederson said..."The Republican presidential nominee says he'll replace the law with his own plan." It would be really nice if the Republican presidential nominee would provide some details of what his plan would involve.

Andy R. said..."And, if you're going to quote an article, do it accurately. What are you talking about?

Specifically, the fact that you tossed out something that you obviously did not understand. You assumed the reader would be as stupid as you, not consider the article and it's implications. There is only one sentence in the article attributed to Romney. The rest is the authors spin. Romney position is not "Romney says he won't repeal all of Obamacare". He intends to issue Obamacare waivers to all fifty states the first day he gets into office. If he has the Senate, I expect he might wait a bit and let the law be repealed. Either way, there will be something new that does encompass some initiatives in the ACA.

Generally, that you should avoid showcasing your ignorance and beclowning yourself by regurgitating transparent spin to an audience actually familiar with the subject.

But the public chest-beating is also the telltale sign of a candidate and his flacks who think that normal rules don’t apply to them, that Obama is so special they can defy gravity.

But they're kind of right. With the economy the way it is right now, it's hard to imagine any other president getting poll numbers like his. And he'll have the advantage of white guilt when they go to the polls too -- whites thinking about how the narrative of history will look if the first Black president goes down in defeat as a miserable failure and deciding that they're willing to take another chance on him to preserve the beautiful lie.

And he'll have the advantage of white guilt when they go to the polls too -- whites thinking about how the narrative of history will look if the first Black president goes down in defeat as a miserable failure and deciding that they're willing to take another chance on him to preserve the beautiful lie.

True, there will be some of that. But, I would expect that more will be swayed by the state of the economy and world peace, and that a distinct majority see themselves as not as well off as 4 years ago, see the President as not doing anything to help, and see that he really doesn't have a clue as to how to fix the problem. $5 trillion in borrowed money spent, and several hundred thousand fewer are working today than 4 years ago.

So, yes, some will be swayed by racism here, and vote for Obama either to further their racial goals, or for other racist reasons, including assuaging their racial guilt, but I suspect that it will be many fewer this time.

They can spin all they want, but people are going to do what they want to do. I'm fairly sure no one is going to switch there vote from Romney to Obama just because we're being told the O is likely unbeatable. Or am I being overly optimistic?